Building Organic Agriculture Extension Training Capacity in the Southeast

Building Organic Agriculture Extension Training Capacity in the Southeast

Summary

The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension System, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Clemson University, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Alabama A&M, Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, have teamed up to train and educate CES personnel and other agricultural professionals in their corresponding states on the philosophy, certification, production methods and economics of organic agriculture systems. Through state trainings in Year One and in-depth region-wide trainings in Year Two, participants’ knowledge, confidence and technical skills of organic agriculture will be improved and enhanced.

Objectives/Performance Targets

The behavior based objectives of this project are:
1.Increase knowledge and awareness, and improve attitudes of project participants towards organic agriculture through the development of organic agriculture curricula to be used as in-depth modules during training sessions and for future use by agriculture educators throughout the SSARE region.

2.Increase confidence level and technical skills of participants, for organic related questions, by developing a website for this specific project with organic educational resources, training tools, presentations, videos and case studies which can be used as a model for future trainings as resource for addressing common organic agriculture issues

3.To enable a select group of participants with skills and additional knowledge and expertise to become trainers and be recognized as experts in organic agriculture in their states

Accomplishments/Milestones

Funding for this projected was received in November 2007, therefore only initial planning and activities were accomplished. In Arkansas and Alabama stakeholder meetings were conducted in December. During this meeting, stakeholders determined the educational content of workshops. In North and South Carolina, dates and agenda were set for stakeholder meetings in January.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

At this point, there has been insufficient time to make impacts and contributions to the region because of the special funding circumstances of this project. Funding notification was received in October, 2007.

Collaborators: